"She has to be with him every night now, and— Wait, can we talk about it outside?" she asks, and I agree, knowing this will be easier for the both of us. I grab my glass and follow her outside. We both pass by the guards with no problem, and I open the doors for her, then we go out.

"Is something going on because of him?" I initiate it, unable to wait. "Yeah. She talked to me about it earlier while we were getting changed, and it's really bad," she does not relieve me at all. "Sookyung forces her to do everything Kangdae asks for, and from what she told me, I feel like it's destroying her a lot."

"What kind of services?" I stay calm in front of her and wait to be able to see him to let all this wrath out. "She told me he asks for oral sex and masturbation a lot. She was literally crying while talking about it," she lowers her voice, and I clench my jaw. "I'm really worried about her because it reminds me of when I started working into this, and it's worse for her because she's so young, she won't ever recover from it."

"I know. I'm trying to get her out of it, but this asshole has manipulated her so much that she's scared to leave," I stub my cigarette out to drink some whiskey, and he expresses a lot of concern. "It feels like I'll never be able to save her from that shit."

"It will take time. She met him when she was still a baby, it's been like this for four years, and he's a very manipulative person, so this is going to be hard, but we'll get her out of this," she shows some optimism, helping me feel less discouraged. "She's the youngest one, right?"

"Yes, all the girls here are at least twenty-three, and none of them started before eighteen. It's probably the reason why she's all those perverts' favorite. She is the only one who was dragged into it when she was, like, sixteen, and this fucking asshole is soon gonna be thirty-one. The worst about this is that we cannot do anything unless y/n speaks up about it because we have no proof, and the girls here won't ever say anything in fear of losing the only job they have," she tells all of the words I keep to myself, and I understand every bit of her sentences. "Yeah. That's the worst, but I'll find a way to make her understand what is happening to her."

"I know she will be safe and happy with you, so I'm going to do everything I can to see her leave him and this job," she crosses her arms, and I hope for this to happen.

•••

1 am.

As I was sitting on a single sofa and waiting for y/n, Lily comes within sight and bends over the armrest. "Hey. I gotta leave earlier tonight, so I wanted to wish you a good night," Lily presses a kiss on my cheek, and I hold the side of her face to stroke her cheek. "Have a good night as well, sweetie. Sleep tight and take care of yourself."

"I will, but you do too. Nana will be there if you need a girl for tonight," she warns me, mentioning the one with baby blue hair, and since I do not want anyone other than y/n, I simply nod and let her go.

I wave at her when she does it, and I look away once she leaves. I am still feeling so anxious, so worried and sick, I need another cigarette.

I get my box and take one cigarette out, and I light it up. I have been smoking so much these days, but I cannot control myself, I cannot stop. That is the only way for me to calm down and not let all my thoughts tear me apart.

I slide my left hand in the pocket of my black trousers and cross my legs, and I relax while feeling the smoke fill my lungs.

Right when I take another inhalation, my heart skips a beat as soon as I catch sight of y/n, for the second time tonight. She seems so busy when she is not near me.

Feeling way too tempted to stay where I am, I grab my glass filled with ice cubes and alcohol, and I make my way towards her as she is cleaning a table.

I do not say anything at first but put my glass down on the table, and I sit down right next to her in order to have my face close to hers as she is bent over. We make eye contact pretty quickly, and I lick my lips. "It's a coincidence that I wanted to sit at this table."

She smiles but glances down, and I lay my hand over hers, this smaller one that is so close to mine. She does not move it away but remains in her position, and I rub my thumb over her skin. "How are you doing?" I pretend not to know anything so that I can hear her talk. "Fine, and you?"

I brush my hand away to not make her uncomfortable. "I miss you, and I'm worried about you."

She turns her head to look into my eyes with her gorgeous ones and brings our faces closer to each other. "I'm worried about you too, you know."

"Why is that? There's no reason to worry about me," I lower my eyes to her red lips, and she does the same with me. "There is. You're smoking so much. This is really bad for your health."

I cannot find an answer to this, agreeing with her but brushing it off. "I want you to worry about yourself instead. You're much younger."

"Still, your health is important no matter how old you are," she takes hold of my glass and lifts it up to pass the cloth underneath. "I'm here to talk about you, not me," I glance down at her throat, some hues catching my attention, but her watch ruins this moment.

"I gotta go, I'm sorry,"  she straightens up, and I do not complain. This is completely useless. I watch her go away and head up to the bar, smoking my cigarette and doing nothing else. I never take my eyes off of her, feeling attracted, enthralled.

I see her put the cloth somewhere near the bar, then she walks somewhere else but remains within sight. While she was heading towards a table, someone stops her.

Kangdae.

He does not keep his hands to himself but gropes her and speaks in her face, asking for something for sure.  I keep all my attention over them and take one last puff of my cigarette to stub it out, and I stand up once I see him kiss her neck.

I walk up to them and seize his arm to push him away from her, and I stand right in front of him. "You get the fuck away from her. Alright?" I stare into his eyes to make him understand I am more than serious, but he chuckles at my face. "Mister Jeon is mad he can't touch her like I do?"

I clench my jaw and grab his collar once he tries to step away. "You leave her alone. I won't say it again, you fucking bastard."

"Motherfucker, she's here for that, so you shut the fuck up and leave me alone," he moves away to try to go back to y/n, but I step right before him and tongue my inner cheek. "I think you didn't hear me well."

"Dude," he sneers and smiles with irritation. "You really want me to beat the fuck out of you?"

"Sure, do it," I nod, not fearing anything. "Get the guards to throw you out of this place and never let you in again. That's all I'm asking for," I do not retreat or show fright. I am used to this type of confrontation, this does not scare me at all. He stares into my eyes, gradually exuding amusement. "You think I'm gonna do that?" he maintains eye contact, not giving up. "Hm? 'Cause we both know who's gonna lose it if I tell you how many times I fucked that slut's throat, uh?" he raises his eyebrows and smirks, knowing how much this infuriates me.

I am on the verge of losing control and beating him up, but I do not want to do this right in front of y/n. "Uh?" he inches closer to talk right at my face. "You wanna know how much she swallowed and got it all over her face?"

My heart slamming into my chest as the anger can be felt through my entire body, I decide to turn around to not go insane and kill him, and I take y/n's hand. I bring her away from him and walk through the crowd, who seemed entertained by our confrontation, and I look for Cherry.

Once I see her walk out of the changing rooms, I head towards her. "Hey," I draw y/n closer to me. "Can you stay by her side for the rest of the night, please?"

"Mister Jeon, she cannot do that," y/n does not even let her speak, but she nods to me. "I will, don't worry."

"No, please. Just let me do my job, Sookyung is going to be mad at me if I—"

"Sweetie," Cherry kindly cups her face with her hands. "It's alright. You'll tell him I'm the one who forced you to stay with me," she reassures him, but I do not agree. "No, just be honest and don't get into trouble. You tell him I'm the one at fault and that you couldn't get into his room because I didn't allow you. Alright?" I address y/n and make sure that both of them are not taking the blame for my actions.

She looks down and does not seem confident about it at all. "Come on," Cherry takes her hand in hers. "Let's stay in the changing room for a moment. If he comes, I'll tell him you felt like fainting."

"Do not let her go near Kangdae," I remind her of the most important, and she listens, so I pat the back of y/n's head and press a kiss on her temple.

•••

2:15 am.

The car before me not stopping yet, I keep following it until he gets to his house and does not drive anymore.

He should never have touched y/n and said those words to me, this would not have gotten him into this. He did not target the right person at all, I know what I can do to avoid facing problems.

I carefully watch where he is going but notice that he is slowing down. He parks his car right in front of a house, which makes me believe he is not even aware of what is happening. I also stop near him, and I turn the ignition off to wait for him to get out of his vehicle.

A few seconds pass by, they turn into minutes, and eventually, he leaves his car. He does not seem alert, he locks the door of his Mercedes, looking relaxed, so I get out as well and make my way towards him.

"Are you really that fucking dumb?" I attract attention while walking up to him, and he turns around. "Get the hell away from me before I call the cops."

With no hesitation, I throw my fist in his jaw and witness his body hit the door behind him. I do not stop but punch him in the face once again, and again to feel my knuckles crash into his bones.

He does not even replicate but tries to stop me, so I knee him in the stomach and wrench him by his collar to brutally shove him back in the door. "Why aren't you fighting back? Uh?" I crush his windpipe with my arm. "You're scared because I'm not a woman?"

He grips my arm to pull it away, asking for air as I can see the veins jut out of his throat and not drive the oxygen to his brain. He is struggling, but I do not want to let go at all, I do want to see him die. After what he has done to y/n, the way he talked to her, he does not deserve any better. "You won't ever approach y/n again. Was I clear enough this time?"

"Y—Yes," he stutters, barely able to breathe. "And you'll never go back there but leave those girls alone. Am I right?"

He does not answer but only miserably attempts to push me away and let some air fill his lungs again. "Am I fucking right?" I push even harder against his throat and knee him in the crotch, but some tears leave his eyes, and he nods.

No matter what I wish to do, I let him free and move back, and he instantly collapses onto the floor, gasps, and bends over but gags. "If I ever see you near her again, if you ever complain to Sookyung about this, I can assure you I won't let go next time," I leave him in this humiliating position and go back to my car.

— Next day —

Sunday, July 25th, 2021.

12:30 pm.

'YOUR P.O.V'

"Y/n," Sookyung leaves the bedroom, finally waking up. "What the fuck is that?" he holds the teddy bear, which Mister Jeon gave me, up, swearing in front of his son. "It's a gift from Cherry," I lie to him, and Jun comes closer to me with a Lego as we are both playing on the floor. "Cherry? Alright, let's see," he takes his phone out, and my heart speeds up to hit me in the chest with its every beat. I am so terrified.

"What are you doing?" I feel Jun climb onto me to hug me, sucking on his pacifier. "I wanna hear it from him," he texts Cherry, and I pray for him to answer with the right words. I hold Jun to not make him feel like I do not care, but I cannot take my eyes off of Sookyung, fearing that Cherry might not tell a lie the way I did it.

The seconds pass, my heartbeat not slowing down, he reads something on his phone screen, then puts it back in his pocket. "You're lucky," he glances up at me and goes back in the bedroom.

I am shaking from everywhere.

I bring my eyes down to my son, and he gazes up at me. I press a kiss on his forehead and smile to make sure he is not worried, but hear Sookyung come back. Knowing that he will want some food, I tell Jun that I have to cook, and he nods, so I stand up and run my fingers through his hair to head to the kitchen.

"What's for lunch?" he follows me, his hands in his pockets. "Galbi jim, rice, omelet, and kimchi," I answer and lay the food, that has already been cooked earlier, down to warm it up. "Good," he slides his hand over my side and sticks his body to the back of mine to land a kiss on my neck. "I apologize for last night, but I want you to never do that again, baby. Alright?" he reminds me of the hard slap he gave me in the face, and I nod. "I'm the one who disrespected you, so I understand," I say sorry for what he considers as wrong when he is the one who hurt me.

/ flashback \

I check my watch after serving a drink to one of the clients, and I read the text Sookyung sent me.

< get in my office, right now ]

A burst of distress courses through me, and I head towards his room with trembling legs. What I have done wrong? Why is he mad?

I knock on the door once I face it, and he lets me in, so I step forward and close the door behind me to be in private. I set my eyes on his face as he is sitting down on his desk chair, and I stand before it.

Not knowing what is happening, I hold my hands behind my back and look at him, who is silently staring at me with anger. So, I nibble on my inner cheek and nervously fiddle with the strap of my watch.